Is Collaboration The Answer To Alzheimer's Research?
July 7, 2026
As someone traveling the Alzheimer’s journey, or “the long goodbye” as I often call it, I have become passionate about Alzheimer’s research. There is much to learn about this dreadful disease. With approximately 7 million Americans suffering from Alzheimer’s, I tend to get frustrated that more Federal and private dollars are not invested in Alzheimer’s research.
Andrea Rinaldi, an Italian freelance science writer, wrote an article in 2018 explaining why many pharmaceutical companies were withdrawing from developing drugs to treat Alzheimer’s symptoms. Mr. Rinaldi points out the inherent costly challenges associated with Alzheimer’s drug research. Among the challenges is a successful drug must be able to cross the blood–brain barrier without further damage and loss of neurons. Mr. Rinaldi also states that the cause of Alzheimer’s is unknown, making it next to impossible to find a cure. Instead, treatment research has focused on slowing the progression of the disease to help patients maintain cognitive abilities.
On January 8, 2018, Pifzer, Inc announced their departure from research to find new drugs aimed at treating Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. "This was an exercise to re-allocate spend across our portfolio, to focus on those areas where our pipeline, and our scientific expertise, is strongest," the company said. Three hundred employees lost their job as a result of Pifzer’s decision.
In general, it seems the period between 2015 and 2020, Wall Street felt investing in Alzheimer’s research was not a good bet. Even with the potential for immense revenues from a successful new drug, the upfront costs and the high probability for failure were just too great.
In recent years, things are slowly changing.
